Executive advises women on mentorships

Tools

Mary Stutts is a corporate executive and author of the new book "The Missing Mentor: Women Advising Women on Power, Progress and Priorities." She will be reading at Books Inc. in Alameda at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

What prompted you to write the book?

When I would go out speaking on various topics as a senior executive, I would inevitably have women come up to me afterwards asking me to mentor them. I would try and do it for everybody, but there just wasn’t enough time. There aren’t enough women in leadership to take care of all the women.

How is a mentor found?

Go online to get access to people who are excelling to a career path you are pursuing. Then, go to conferences, give résumés, papers. You have to put yourself out there and be willing to take risks.

What’s one way to get the most out of a mentorship?

Anytime I mentor anyone, I want them to come in with an outline of career goals and aspirations. Then, I can help you chart a path to get there by emphasizing what type of development and work experiences are necessary.

What can women do to better climb the corporate ladder?

Once you’re midlevel, you need to start taking risks or you’re going to get to the point where you’re comfortable where you are and are going to get stuck. No leader is going to take a chance on another leader who is risk adverse and scared of change.